Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-04-30
OROVILLE AND VICINITY.
Progress of the Boom at the Heart of the
Central Citrus Belt

ORovILLR, April %, 1887.
EDS. RECORD UNION A year ago l visited
this Gem of the Foothills" as these en-
thusiastic people love to call their town,
and now can hardly believe that it is the
same place. The boom has come, and evil
IDENTIFY to stay. / find several fine new
buildings that have been erected, and they
are credit to their owners and the town.
There has been great activity in clearing
land ard in tree and vine planting Sew
eral large tracts of land have been bought
from the sheep men, and the trees and
brush grubbed out, plowed and put out to
orchards and vineyards. More land has
been sold in the past IL months than in as
many years before, and il has brought sat-
isfactory prices The attention of the people
of other parts of the State and of the East
has been attracted to the advantages of the
rich valleys and the sunny, sloping hill
sides of this section, and there has been a
steady incoming of home-seekers and spec
ulators who have invested. Great tracts of
land have been bought and di-
vided and offered in lots to suit
purchasers. The public-spirited citizens of
the town organized, bought land and water.
and planted out an orange orchard that
now is an ornament and bids fair to bring
the investors golden returns for all their
outlay in labor and money. The exhibits
from Oroville in the two citrus fairs in Sac
ramento attracted the attention of capital
lists in the southern part of the State, who
came here through the active agency of
Colonel G. F. Croker and bought 5000
acres of land, named it "Thermalita,
brought water to it, subdivided it, and are
fx-,r - al -
atory to its sale. Wide avenues have been
laid out, and quite force of teams are en-.
gagged in grading them. Water is already
running to portions of the tract, and trees
are to be planted along these avenues and
IN the public squares. The company have
commenced the construction of the build
ings. of which there are to be several be-
fore the shares are offered for sale. In all
1t is proposed to expend $50, 900 in street
grading, tree planting and building pre-.
paratory to the sale of property. A fine
office has been opened in Oroville and an
agency in Los Angeles. Extensive adver-
Using will be done, both on this coast
and in the East. In fact no money
or labor will be spared to make this settle
ment of Thermalita perfect success. This
Is the first genuine attempt made in the
northern half of this State in the modern
cast, scattering work has been done, but the
kind of colonization that has done such
wonders south of the Tehachapi has here
tofore been unknown For the want of
such enterprises we have made little pro-
gress, while sections of the State less IA
yored than ours have distanced us in the
race of development. While we have
talked about what fine settlements could be
made, our southern people have made
them, and they have not only made the
settlements. but they have made fortunes
also. If this colony of Thermalita is a
success, as it undoubtedly will be, it will
lead the way to the establishment of model
settlements in every northern county. The
Oroville of to-day is not the OrovilIe of
three years ago. A new spirit seems to
pervade everything here. Investment and
development are in all minds, and are
actually being made upon every hand. In
the town new streets are being opened. new
lots graded and put upon the market. To-
day / hear of several land sales-one of
which was tract of 900 acres, four miles
from town, in the vicinity of Thermalita.
1t is said that these 900 acres will be put
under an irrigating ditch and then subdi-
yided and sold in twenty and forty-acre
tracts. 1t is a little singular that Oroville.
hidden away in the foothills of the Sierra
Nevada, almost unknown, and held in
small estimation by her neighbors, should
be the first to work up.a genuine boom. but
such is the fact. She is fortunate in hay
ing such public men as Freei, Lott, Per-
kins, Bell, Boynton, Price, Wilcox, Fogg,
Green and others of equal energy and fore
sight. These men were determinedto make
city of Oroville and garden of the coun-
try around, and they are doing it. At some
future time | shall have more to say of the
"Gem of the Foothills and the country
that surrounds If. II. LATHAM.